Subject to Change
by CelticCrossings
Summary: Just a fic on Nell and Eric b/c I think they're adorable. K  but might become T for language that might occur in later chapters.  Chapters two and three replaced so read please.
1. Chapter 1

So, I like Nell as a character and personally more fics should include her. Here is my attempt, it is what it is.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

January 22, 2011

Hi,

My name is Nell Jones and I work, well, that's classified so we'll just go with as a government techie. I'm in my very early twenties and I have an annoying tendency to finish other people's sentences. The only person who doesn't seem to mind is my friend (?) and colleague Eric Beal. Eric is a neat guy and someone I would like to get to know… He's a really sweet guy who puts up with me and my quirks without complaint even though we didn't get along when I first started working here…gosh I hope he never finds this…that would be humiliating. I should probably not be writing in this at work then should I? Oh well, today's been a slow day and I feel rather bored. Oh! Here comes Eric, I need to hide this.

"Hey Nell, what's up?"

"Hi Eric, nothing's up." I said a little too quickly. Luckily I was almost always jittery so he didn't seem to notice.

"Alright well Hetty wants us to go through these records and put them on the computers. She usually has me do this in my spare time so it's not like a punishment or something, just in case you were wondering."

I stayed silent.

"What are you hiding Nell? Eric asked me despite the cover of my usually erratic behavior.

"Nothing, everything's fine Eric, I promise."

"What's fine?" Agent Deeks asked as he and Agent Blye walked into the ops center. Lately he and Agent Blye were never alone. They were always with the other.

"Nothing, I mean everything. Everything's fine." Eric ignored my statement and said,

"Nell's hiding something and I want to know what it is."

That led to Agents Blye and Deeks interrogating me for over an hour since there was no case and they were bored. Still, I didn't yield to their questions.

"Were you NSA in a former life or something? This is ridiculous." They said in defeat.

"Well Agents, our job is classified to civilians, aka my mother. If I couldn't stand up to her interrogations, I wouldn't be here."

"Fine, you're free for now, but since you won't tell us about whatever it is you're hiding, I am forced to ask you about how you know Nate." Eric threatened as well as he could as Kensi leaned in attentatively and I sighed.

"Nate and I know each other from a few years ago. He was working as a psychologist where I last worked as a technical person. That's it. We just knew each other and that's that."

I really don't think they bought that but they left me alone for the rest of the day…or everyone but Eric did. He hated my unnatural silence and I knew that but eh, whatever.

"Nell?" He asked after about half an hour of silence.

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him.

"Nell, stop the silence please? I know that you're mad at me for prying but what if I made it up to you? Let me take you to dinner and you can ask me any bunch of questions you want that you wouldn't even be able to find in my sealed records that I know you can hack into. Please Nell?"

I just sat for a moment letting everything sink in, and to torture Eric a bit, then I sighed.

"Alright" and then I grabbed my coat and went to see Hetty before I left.

**That's it for this first chapter…reviews determine the rest…**


	2. Chapter 3

**Alrighty, so let's get on with Chapter 2! Disclaimer: I own nothing…if I did…well I don't whatever.**

After I'd grabbed my coat, I headed down to Hetty's office. Why? I have no idea, just a feeling that I should.

"Ah, Ms. Jones, I was just about to call for you."

"And what do you need me for?"

"I want you to know that I'm not angry with you for going along with Mr. Callen's secret mission earlier-well, that is to say I'm not _mostly_ angry, for I am indeed miffed. Anyway, Ms. Jones, I also wanted to say that I hope that you and Mr. Beal have a nice time tonight. Goodbye, Dear."

I smiled as I walked out and said, "Goodbye Hetty."

I went home to freshen up before Eric came to pick me up. We hadn't done anything today, but I decided to get a quick shower anyway, probably because I was feeling a little self-conscious. Afterwards I changed into a nice light blue flowing skirt and a three quarter length sleeve white top since the weather felt so nice. I made a quick cup of tea, apparently Hetty was growing on me, and not long afterwards Eric arrived at my door.

"Hey," he said when I opened the door and let him in.

"Hey, I'm almost ready, just give me a sec," I replied as he nodded.

"Hey, Nell, what was that discreet thing Hetty wanted you to look up?" he asked bluntly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Eric. I was working the same case the rest of you were working, or do you not remember me interrupting yours and Callen's conversations?" That seemed to satisfy him for maybe a millisecond.

"What about all of the times when you were mysteriously missing from the ops center?"

"What about all of the times you go missing from the ops center? Can you honestly tell me that every other time I look up and you aren't there that you aren't off doing some clandestine service for Hetty?"

He sighed. "Fine, you win this one. Are you ready to get going?"

"Let's do this," I said with a smile.

We took his car to a seafood place near the beach and went in. The hostess that greeted us was one of those just-graduated-high-school-senior types that was only working for spending money. When we were being led to our seats she kept glancing over at Eric and smiling. It kind of made me angry and I politely and quietly told her to keep her eyes to herself.

"Aw, are you jealous, Nell?"

"No!" I paused. "Maybe," I mumbled as I looked at my hands in my lap.

"Hey, it's fine," he said with a laugh. "I think it's cute." He paused, then continued. "I also think it's cute that you ramble and get obsessed when you talk about subjects that you're passionate about. I love your energy and the way you just accept the covert assignments that Hetty gives you, and I love how you get jealous when seemingly attractive waitresses hit on me."

I blushed and kept looking at my hands. As I did so I sensed Eric's hand reaching towards me, and sure enough his hand brushed my cheek, tilting my face up to look at his.

"Don't be embarrassed. Weren't you listening to anything I was saying?" I slowly nodded as he went on, "Good, because I meant every word of if, Nell Jones."

I just kept smiling as our drinks were brought up and didn't stop until our food arrived. Eric had ordered some kind of seafood smorgasbord of things while I had a salad. I know, I know, you think that I'm one of those prissy watch-my-weight-salad- only type bimbos. Wrong. I merely detest seafood aside from crab. Then why eat at a seafood restaurant you dope? Well, Eric likes seafood and I want to do something he likes. All through dinner we kept the conversation topics away from the office and opted to talk about our hobbies. I already knew that Eric was a serious surfer, but tonight I learned that it was almost an obsession, and I found it fascinating. He saw my awed look and offered to teach me one weekend when it got warmer. I readily agreed. I told him about my family and my boring albeit normal childhood considering I was far from normal. I told him that I had never had many friends in school because being smart had never been the popular thing.

Once dinner was over the conversation strayed back to work.

"So, Hetty's secret assignment."

"I'm not telling you, Eric," I said with a mischievous grin. "If I did, Hetty might kill me."

"She would have to go through me. You know, when Hetty first told me that I'd be getting a partner I was kind of mad at her. I resented the fact that I thought that Hetty thought that I wasn't good enough to do my job, but now that I've gotten to know you I'm glad she brought you in. You've been good for us, for me. I'm glad to have you in my life Nell, and the team trusts you now, too."

I smiled again, I couldn't help it. Eric had that effect on me. "Do you really think they trust me?"

"Yeah, I do." He looked around. "I think they're about to close."

I stared in shock then looked at my watch and laughed. It was nine o'clock.

"Yeah, I guess we should get home," I said, as Eric signaled for the check. I offered to pay for mine but since it was a date Eric insisted that he pay for this one. I only agreed because he said that I could buy tomorrow's lunch.

We left the restaurant and he kindly walked me to my porch.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow," he said slowly.

"Bright and early," I quipped. Right as he was turning to leave he turned back around. Just as quickly he turned and walked to his car as I sighed. I really wished that he would have kissed me.


	3. Chapter 4

**Alrighty, so let's get on with Chapter 3! Again, sorry I haven't updated. Please ignore any spelling errors are mine, not my beta's.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing…if I did…well, I don't. Its' short I know, I'm sorry. This is just a replacement chapter and I was going to add more length to this but my family has just received some devastating news about a friend of ours so I might be MIA for a bit, but no more than a week. Love you guys. Reviews are love.**

I headed into OPS bright and early, just like Eric said, that next morning and waiting at my work station was Eric with a steaming cup of tea.

"Hey," I greeted, as he gave me the customary hug and added a kiss on the cheek. "What's with the tea?

Eric look adorably bashful and replied, "Well, I got in about ten minutes ago and Hetty brought a case to my attention. I haven't briefed the team yet, but this one is going to be tough. It's violent, sexist, and horrific to look at, and we have to go through everything. I figured that since our entire day will be awful and stressful, you deserved something nice to start your morning off with."

I smiled at him and gave him a peck on the side of the mouth, far enough away so that it wasn't an actual kiss but close enough to get the point across that we weren't just friends either. We quickly got down to business and got the case information sorted. Eric went to whistle the team up and I put the last touches on the display. Hetty made it up before the team and smiled at the cup of tea in my hands.

"He is a keeper, Ms. Jones. I suggest that you hold onto him."

I smiled and tried to hide my blush as I replied, "I plan on it Hetty."

Our moment was broken when the rest of the team entered, but I was fine with it.

"What've we got guys?" Callen asked as everyone took their positions around the room.

Our case was pressing and awful but as Eric filled everyone in, I couldn't help but notice some of their positions. Callen was at the front with his arms crossed as usual with Sam right next to him, same position. Kensi had her elbows leaning on the table with one leg cocked and Deeks stood protectively pressed up next to her. Though they were partners, and bickering ones at that, there seemed to be an unresolved tension hanging about those two and I wanted to know what it was.

"Nell," Eric said my name as he shook my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Dang it, I must have totally zoned out. "Uh, nothing's wrong, just zoned out for a second I guess." I turned to Hetty and Callen. "Sorry, it won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't, Ms. Jones." I mentally flinched at the use of my last name. I assumed that the briefing was done since the team filed out leaving Eric and me alone in OPS.

"Are you sure that you're alright, Nell? You zoned out for a good five minutes there. You really had us worried."

"Yeah Eric, I'm fine. Promise. Let's just get through this case okay?" He nodded and we got to work.

We researched our victim and found a few commomalities with an older case and another more recent one so we went to call the team. I dont' know what changed but today Eric let me whistle for them!

Once the team was assembled in OPS Eric and I started relaying information as fast as the agent could take it in.

Our dead guy's name was Taylor Holmes. 25, lived alone, no pets, both parents alive but in a different state, no boyfriend, poor social skills and rather intelligent. She was small, easy for the killer to overpower. Short blonde hair, dark eyes. We had already found prints at the scene belonging to a serial killer named Matthew Reed. MO was exactly the same: short vic, hands and feet bound with hardware store rope, duct taped mouths, everything wiped clean except for his calling card, a neon colored post it with a message to the agents investigating. This particular calling card wasn't to the agents but it was to Eric and I.

_Pity, I thought you both were supposed to be the best. Hmm, guess I was wrong. If you can manage to find me there will be a nice surprise waiting for you. Tah tah._

As I said, it's always the same MO, except this time he'd changed a specific detail. The hair. He'd never killed a blonde before, only brunettes that looked like his sister. He was escalating at a frightening rate, as all escalations are a bit scary, and Callen and same went to check it out as Kensi and Deeks went to question the family and Eric and I tracked down our previous suspect.

**I decided to redo the end of this chapter because I hated it...a lot. So here it is, it is what it is. I apologize.**


	4. Important

Alrighty guys, I know that I've been a while in updating but I'm working on Always There to Catch Me and Subject to Change and Surprise in the Sadness are currently

being Beta'd. I am TERRIBLY sorry that I am taking so long to update, I PROMISE that I am working on it even as I am updating this author's note for you guys. I love all

of you readers and reviewers!

Just a heads up, I won't be updating July 5-20th as I will be on vacation in the UK! So excited! Anyway, so yeah, just thought you lovely people should know.

Love,

~Me~


	5. Chapter 5

**Alrighty everyone….I know this is an extremely disappointing update seeing as I am a terrible updater in every sense of the word anyway but I am writing this to tell you all that all of my stories will be on a temporary albeit probably lengthy hiatus. School is a nightmare and my anatomy class is trying to drive me mad. I just really need to concentrate right now and learn to manage my time but do not fear…as I am taking said hiatus I will be writing out the rest of all of my stories and getting whatever needs to be beta'd beta'd. So, I am sorry to disappoint but this needs to be done. I love you all my wonderful readers, I promise to return. **


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